The European patent application 0 234 877 A1 discloses a bottom pressure casting process in which a casting mold is filled via a bottom inlet having a horizontal axis. The mold is filled from a melt-containing vessel below the mold using a conveying system for molten material. For solidification, the mold is rotated 180 degrees about the horizontal axis of its inlet. The inlet remains open during rotation of the mold and no provision is made for closing the inlet. The vessel containing the melt for the mold is located below the inlet and, after the mold has been rotated, the pressure is reduced and the inlet empties into the vessel due to gravity.
The German publication 21 64 755 teaches a bottom pressure casting process in which a casting mold is connected with a melt-containing vessel by means of open pipe connections. The mold and the melt-containing vessel are rotated together in such a manner that the casting cavity of the mold gradually drops below the level of the melt in the vessel. The mold has no special feeders so that it cannot be separated from the melt-containing vessel before solidification has occurred. Furthermore, due to the fact that the melt-containing vessel is rotatable, the apparatus is very expensive and the sizes of the castings are limited.